A t1.micro instance *isn’t* suitable for a tf2 server. The way Amazon has it set up is that Micro instances will have their CPU stolen by other instances if necessary. While this rarely happens to any great effect, when it does, there’s a large ping spike.

I’m trying to set up a TF2 server on EC2 as well, and I’m curious what your monthly bill is to run this. I love the possibility of building and running it all myself, but if it’s going to cost more than renting a pre-built server, I may as well do that.

I’m trying to set up a TF2 server on EC2 as well, and I’m curious what your monthly bill is to run this. I love the possibility of building and running it all myself, but if it’s going to cost more than renting a pre-built server, I may as well do that.

Ok, I’ll keep it simple: Don’t.
The price of the instance isn’t bad. But the bandwidth used will drive up the price you pay dramatically. I left it running for 36 hours as an MvM instance, and it used just over 3GB of bandwidth. Amazon’s free tier is only 1GB. I caught it before it went really over – only $0.22, but I can’t imagine what the bill would be like if I left it running for a month.